I n spite of a wavering economy throughout 2001, SEECS faculty continued to excel in the procurement of research funding. The 2001 Fall semester ended on an extremely positive note as members of each department - Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering - had success with numerous grant proposals.
From July to December 2001, the faculty was funded with grants totaling almost $2.4 million in awards. The projects bring funding from a variety of private and public sources.
"UCF is one of America's leading metropolitan research institutions, and we are pleased with the rewards our efforts have produced. I'm also proud of the diversity and excellence of our new partners," said Dr. Gelenbe.
"Our SEECS research partners are among the most significant organizations in the high-technology sector," he added. "We work with federal and state agencies and with some of the very best private companies in the world. We also take advantage of UCF's fund-matching program for certain grant awards. All of this enables us to grow and strengthen our research program."

Impressive Research Links
The school's wide variety of partnerships bring research funding from both federal and state agencies. Many of these funded projects are tied to UCF's overall initiatives to stimulate technological development along Central Florida's High Technology Corridor, known as the I-4 Corridor. Some of SEECS' public partners include the National Science Foundation, NASA, STRICOM, Florida Institute of Technology and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Dr. Gelenbe said, "We are also proud that each department in SEECS secured funding from a key organization - the NSF - which is a terrific accomplishment." NSF awards in the Fall of 2001 totaled almost $1.3 million.
Just as important is SEECS' funding and relationships with private industries and sectors, particularly those related to defense, aerospace, communications and information technology. Private partners include Lockheed Martin, Raytheon E-Systems Inc., Intersil Corp., Agere Systems, Inc. and Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

A Bright Outlook
"We expect that the number of I-4 industrial partners, in particular, will continue to increase as we put more focus on high-tech research partners," added Ronald Dutton, program director and graduate program coordinator for Computer Science. "By narrowing in on the corridor, we are forging a stronger partnership between education and industry in our community. In turn, this effort is helping to build a better Orlando and a better UCF."
Overall, the successful pursuit of SEECS grant awards has enabled the school to accomplish one of its primary goals: major funded research attained by the faculty. This kind of success will also help UCF achieve one of its objectives for the new millennium: to become a Level I Research University by the Carnegie Foundation. Currently, UCF is classified as a Level II Research University. And according to MIT Technology Review's 2000 annual survey of U.S. universities and their quest for intellectual property, UCF ranked in the top 50 universities in technological strength.
"I believe the faculty will continue to conduct and foster creative research in 2002, particularly in the foundations and applications of information sciences and technology, among other topics," said Dr. Gelenbe. "Therefore, we deeply appreciate the efforts of those who wrote proposals and are doing the research, as well as the staff members who help make the proposal process smooth and fast."
"We could not have achieved the success of raising nearly $2.4 million without the dedication of so many within the school," concluded Dr. Gelenbe.